


know when to hold 'em

by kisahawklin



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gambling, Kissing, M/M, Sam Ships It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-28
Updated: 2015-09-28
Packaged: 2018-04-23 20:20:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4890805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kisahawklin/pseuds/kisahawklin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Inspired by the prompt: <em>"Did you hear me?" Cas asked. "I said, Sam told me he loved me."</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Clavally](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clavally/gifts).
  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [Flailosaurus](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Flailosaurus) collection. 



> Because Clavally.

"Did you hear me?" Cas asks. "I said, Sam told me he loved me."

Like Dean could've missed that. He sighs. "Yeah, Cas, I heard you. Why are you telling me?" There's a million reasons he'd tell Dean, actually, but Dean's not up to guessing. 

"Do you want my blessing?" 

Or maybe he is up to guessing.

Cas doesn't answer, so Dean stops pretending to read the file on Magnus's outlawed spellwork and looks up at Cas. He looks constipated. "What, you want my blessing? Great, you got it. Go back to my brother."

"Hm," Cas says finally. 

Dean looks back up from the file. "Hm?" he asks. "Hm, what?"

"That's what Sam said you would say."

Dean rolls his eyes. "Well, Sam's known me his entire life. He probably could have had this entire conversation with you and saved me the trouble." He shuts the file and gets up, stretching. "I need a beer."

He's not surprised when Cas follows him to the kitchen, though he wishes he would get to the point already. He turns around in the doorway, blocking Cas. "What, Cas? What do you want from me?"

"Sam and I had a bet," Cas says. "And he won it."

Dean snorts. "Well, don't bet Sam on stuff, Cas, you'll always lose. Especially when it comes to betting on me."

"I know," Cas says. "But I have to pay up on the bet, so –"

Before Dean can blink, Cas has his hands fisted in Dean's flannel shirt, pulling him in close, and Dean can't help flinching. It _would_ be Sam's idea of a joke to bet Cas into giving Dean a beatdown. 

When Cas kisses him, though, Dean sucks in a surprised breath, his mind drawing a blank as he realizes what Cas tastes like in that unexpected inhale. He tastes like flying and home and being on the road and everything Dean has ever wanted.

"Woo hoo!" Sam cries, and Dean cringes at the flash from Sam's phone. "Good job, Cas. That wins me about ten other bets I've made over the last six years."


	2. Chapter 2

Sam stops laughing just long enough to wipe the tears out of his eyes. "I love you, Cas," he says, clapping him on the shoulder. "Don't ever change."

Cas's eyes are surprisingly wide, like Sam has said something unexpected. "What?" Sam asks. 

Cas continues to stare. It's getting a little creepy. 

"What, Cas?"

"You love me?" Cas asks, and Sam closes his eyes. It's an affectation, really, something he picked up from Charlie, a throwaway that's not really a throwaway, and damn it, it just came out of his mouth. Fuck, he misses Charlie.

"Yeah, Cas," Sam says. "I mean, yeah, you're family, and I'm glad you're here and you make me laugh. Sorry, it wasn't supposed to be a thing, I was just… it was just…"

"You didn't mean it." There's relief on Cas's face, which Sam tries not to be offended by.

"I did," Sam answers, squeezing Cas's shoulder. "You know that there's lots of different kinds of love, right? I love Dean, too, and there's nothing weird about that. You get that, right? That I love Dean differently than I loved Amelia and Jess?"

"Oh," Cas says. "I… no. I hadn't realized. I understand now. You mean the difference between agape and eros."

"Yeah, exactly," Sam says, relieved that at least there's one thing he doesn't have to explain. He can't imagine trying to convince an angel he's not interested in being wooed. "So, yeah. I love you like a brother. Like I love Dean."

"That's not how _I_ love Dean." 

Sam's mouth drops open in surprise. He's seen the way Dean and Cas tease, the way they look at each other. He knows Dean's keeping whatever it is to himself, because he's Dean and it can never be easy, but he'd assumed Cas just didn't understand what was going on.

"No?" Sam asks, a strange sense of hope rising in his chest. Maybe this could happen. Maybe Dean could be happy.

"No," Cas says. Sam gives him his best _tell me more_ expression, and Cas stares back for a moment, seemingly unaware he needs to elaborate. Sam raises his eyebrows, trying to be encouraging. _Come on, Cas._

"It's confusing." 

Sam rolls his eyes. "Well, Cas, that's the way this stuff is. But you have to risk it if you want to have a chance."

"A chance at what?"

Sam smiles. Talking about it isn't going to get this done. He has a better plan. "Let's make a bet," Sam says. "I'll answer that question if you win the bet."

"What kind of bet?" Cas asks. "And what do you get if you win?"

Sam smirks. This is going to be so much fun. "I bet that if you tell Dean that I said I loved you, he'll give us his blessing."

"His blessing?" Cas asks, and Sam puts his hand up to stop the question he knows is coming. 

"Doesn't matter. If he gives us his blessing, then I win the bet. And you have to kiss him. On the mouth. Right then."

"I don't understand." 

"I know," Sam says, pulling Cas in for a quick hug before shoving him out of the library. "But you will."


	3. Chapter 3

Cas flinches at the flash from Sam's phone, turning to glare, and Sam cackles with glee. "I should’ve taken video," he says, and glances down at his phone.

Cas turns back to Dean, who is wearing the most poleaxed expression Cas has ever seen. Cas has seen a lot of looks on Dean that he doesn't know how to interpret, but if there is one truth about Winchesters, and Dean in particular, it's that words will not help the situation and will often harm it, so he tries to figure out what to do without breaking the spell of a silent, non-reactive Dean. 

He still has his hands fisted in Dean's shirt, and he lets go, smoothing Dean's shirt down gently to gauge his reaction. He looks confused, still. Which, considering Sam is being obnoxious right there, tells Cas everything he needs to know. He hopes. He has very little in the way of instinct, or knowledge in this area, but he has a feeling he has to keep moving forward or this chance will be lost with protestations about Sam's douchiness.

Cas steps in closer, letting their chests brush, moving his hands out of the way and up to Dean's neck. Dean's expression changes, becoming stormy, a host of emotions moving over his face. Sam has quieted, and Cas knows his window of opportunity is closing quickly, so he gently pulls Dean down into another kiss. 

Dean follows his guidance easily, and when their lips touch for the second time, Cas can absolutely feel Dean's inertia come to an end. He puts his hands on Cas, extending the kiss to other parts of his body, somehow, opening his mouth and touching their tongues together, and Cas feels like his entire human form has twisted open somehow, like it was a flower still shut up to the outside world until the sun finally shone on its face.

When Dean finally releases him, Cas gasps for breath because his body still performs some of those functions automatically and has its own reactions that often affect how Castiel feels about what is happening. It has never been this intense before.

He looks up at Dean, wondering if words would break the fragile moment, and decides not to risk it. He puts his fingers to his lips, curious. They feel the same. There is no tingling or hypersensitivity. Does Dean somehow cause his body to feel this way? He must attempt this again, conduct a thorough experiment to see if he can judge the root cause of this.

He pulls on Dean's neck gently, seeing as how that ended exactly as he intended the last time, but Dean seems less inclined to follow this time. Cas looks up, tries to see if there is a clue on Dean's face, some emotion in that squall that took over him the last time, but Dean looks the same, many emotions fighting for dominance. 

Dean looks to where Sam was standing and Cas follows his gaze. Sam is gone, disappeared to elsewhere in the bunker, damning photographs probably being texted to everyone they know. Cas turns to Dean to see if this is what has distressed him, but Dean has finally broken through the turmoil, the emotion shining on his face clearly love, and clearly for Castiel. 

He smiles, his hands still on Dean's neck. He pulls Dean down and rests their foreheads together, taking a moment to savor the feel of their skin touching. Cas has a feelings words will need to be spoken soon. It's a fact he dreads because Winchesters can never seem to say the truth out loud, at least not unless coerced.

Dean takes a breath to speak, and Cas pushes his way in to kiss the words out of Dean's mouth. It might have been something simple, or something good, but Cas doesn't believe that and he can't risk the fragile understanding they have here. 

Dean kisses back, warmly, but not for long. He takes Cas's hands in his, removing them from his neck.

"Please," Cas says, shocked to hear his voice. It's been long moments since there was any sound in the room, and the last was Sam's happy laughter.

Dean looks poleaxed again. Of all the things Cas expected, it was not that. "Please, Dean," Cas says again, though he can't finish his request. He doesn't know what he's asking for, just for Dean not to take this away from him. From them.

"It's okay," Dean says, releasing one of Cas's hands but firmly holding on to the other. "I just thought maybe we should move this somewhere more private. Sam's probably lurking somewhere filming this."

Cas scans the area, trying to see if he can tell where Sam is. He doesn't often keep track of the Winchesters' exact whereabouts, but he can, if he needs to. "Sam is in his room," Cas says.

Dean smiles, an uncomplicated look that Cas knows well is the near-absolute love he has for Sam. "Probably making that picture his desktop," Dean rumbles, laughing a bit at the end.

"Or texting it to everyone we know," Cas adds, and Dean pales, but laughs again, if a bit nervously. 

"He put you up to this?" 

Cas nods, avoiding Dean's eyes. "I think he might have known what would happen."

Dean laughs, releasing Cas's hand and clapping him on the back. "Oh, he knew." He smirks and tilts his head in the general direction of his bedroom. "Let's make him regret it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry - some angst snuck in there, but it's mostly fluff, right? Right. :)

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks, flailosaurs. <333


End file.
